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Mozilla products contain several unspecified errors in the layout engine

Vulnerability Note VU#495288

Original Release Date: 2006-11-08 | Last Revised: 2007-04-05

Overview

The Mozilla layout engine contains several unspecified vulnerabilities that may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code or crash the vulnerable application.

Description

The Mozilla layout engine, also known as Gecko, is responsible for parsing HTML, XML, CSS, layout, and rendering. Gecko is the core of several applications, such as Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird, and SeaMonkey. The Mozilla layout engine contains several unspecified vulnerabilities that can corrupt memory and cause the application to crash. In certain cases, such crashes may be exploitable to execute arbitrary code.

Impact

By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML document (e.g., a web page, an HTML email message, or an HTML email attachment), an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the privileges of the user. An attacker may also be able to cause the affected application to crash.

Solution

Apply an update

Refer to Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2006-65 for fixed versions of Mozilla products. According to this advisory, Firefox 1.5.0.8, Thunderbird 1.5.0.8, and SeaMonkey 1.0.5 address this issue. Netscape Browser 8.1.3 has also been released to address this issue.


Disable JavaScript

Disabling JavaScript may help prevent these vulnerabilities from being exploited to execute arbitrary code.

Vendor Information

495288
 

America Online, Inc. Affected

Updated:  April 05, 2007

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

Netscape Browser 8.1.3 has been released to address this issue.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.

Mozilla Affected

Notified:  November 08, 2006 Updated: November 08, 2006

Status

Affected

Vendor Statement

We have not received a statement from the vendor.

Vendor Information

The vendor has not provided us with any further information regarding this vulnerability.

Addendum

Refer to Mozilla Foundation Security Advisory 2006-65 for fixed versions of Mozilla products.

If you have feedback, comments, or additional information about this vulnerability, please send us email.


CVSS Metrics

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References

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Mozilla Foundation for reporting this vulnerability, who in turn credit Jesse Ruderman and Martijn Wargers.

This document was written by Will Dormann.

Other Information

CVE IDs: CVE-2006-5464
Severity Metric: 3.50
Date Public: 2006-11-08
Date First Published: 2006-11-08
Date Last Updated: 2007-04-05 18:15 UTC
Document Revision: 21

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